Help - Racked Dragonblood

[JaJinAK]

I racked my Dragonblood off the lees tonight and sweetened with sugar. I stirred the heck out of it to mix the sugar in. My questions are:
1. Should I fill up the carboy with a white Riesling that I have on hand?
2. Should it still taste kind of sparkly? There were no bubbles at all prior to me stirring it to death.

Thanks!
Jules

 

[Arne]

Did you stabalize before sweetening. If not, you may be getting a referment. If so, let it go back to dry, then you will have to let it clear, stabalize and sweeten again. It could be pretty high in alcohol if this has happened. Stick a airlock back on and see what happens. If it is not fermenting and you only have to let it finish degassing, I would probably top it up a little. What you have on hand should work ok I believe. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[JaJinAK]

Hi Arne. Thanks for replying.
I did stabilize and everything looks great. I have no bubbles this morning. I went ahead and topped it off. I will wait a week and see if everything looks good to bottle. Just thought it tasted a bit "sparkly".

Jules

 

[BernardSmith]

When did you pitch the yeast or slurry? Did you degas the wine? My guess is that the "sparkle" might be coming from the CO2 that is still absorbed by the liquid. The wine could have stopped fermenting a while ago but it can still hold a great deal of carbon dioxide. If you move the carboy to a warmer part of your home you might see the water in airlock rise as the gas in the wine is released by the liquid as the temperature rises. Alternatively, if you have any silicone or stainless steel fasteners that you can sanitize (or oak chips, for example - or even rough wooden chopsticks) and you drop these into the wine you should see bubbles rise to the surface through a process called nucleation. Nucleation simply aids the gas collecting to form large enough pockets (though still quite tiny) that enables it to free itself from the liquid

 

[Arne]

Sounds like you are getting close to a tasting. Let us know if there is anything left to bottle after the grand tasting. LOL, Arne.

 

[JaJinAK]

Thanks Bernard. Everything appears to be fine. I pitched the yeast on August 17th and have gone by DangerDaves instructions. I did degas with a drill. I have a silicone bung on it right now and it doesn't seem to be building any pressure. I also do not see any bubble in the wine. I am not going to try and bottle until next weekend. I have heard that maybe I should do I test where I take a small sample with my wine thief and cover my hand over a glass and shake it. It no air escapes when I remove my hand then it should be good to go??

Jules